Jenny got back to work and focused on contacting all the names on her list until lunchtime rolled around. Or at least she tried to focus, but the entire time she was mentally kicking herself and pulling out her hair. And was it just her imagination, or was everyone in the office staring as she passed their desks on the way to the water cooler? Even people who hadn't been at Nick's birthday party seemed to be gossiping about Jenny as she walked by. It didn't help her sanity that she had a photograph pinned to her cubicle wall of her and Nick together from the first time she met him at a beach rally. She could feel his picture judging her. It didn't matter that Jenny's boss was in the photo with them, as well. She unpinned the picture from the wall and stuffed it in a desk drawer.

It was almost noon, and Jenny had just finished up her last e-mail of the morning when her cell phone vibrated in her purse. She checked the caller ID and nearly dropped the phone. The display read "Nick C." and was accompanied by a MySpace style shot of the two of them from the night before, pretending to act emo as they held the camera phone at arm's length.

 "When did I get Nick's number?" she wondered, quickly followed by, "Oh my God, what do I do? He's calling me!" Jenny sat there clutching her phone and staring at it in panic as it continued to vibrate in her hand. Should she answer it? What would she even say to him? Not knowing what else to do, Jenny opened her desk where she had stashed the photograph, stuffed the phone inside, and shut the drawer firmly. She stood up and decided that it was time for lunch.

Jenny walked past the elevator and took the stairs down to avoid Valerie and the rest of her co-workers, not wanting to hear anything more about her drunken antics the night before. She had made it all the way to the front entrance of the building when she ran into Gay Zack with one of his friends from accounting. They were standing outside taking a smoke break under the awnings to avoid the rain.

"Oh my God, it's you!" Zack exclaimed. He came over and threw one arm around her in a hug, holding his cigarette off to the side. "Jimmy and I were just talking about how the office is all abuzz ‘cause they finally saw your wild child come out. No one can concentrate on saving the ocean today, and it's all your fault, Jenny," he said in a sing-song voice. She stood there glumly, not hugging him back, which caused Zack to pull away. "What's wrong? You look more miserable than the time I told you that you don't look good in booties because of your short Asian legs."

"Please spare me, Zack. I've just... had enough office gossip for a lifetime. I've heard all about how I embarrassed myself and went home alone in perfect disgrace last night."

The two men exchanged a look, and Jenny clearly saw Jimmy mouth, "Should we tell her?"

"Tell me what?" she asked. "You mean, how I confessed to Nick that I wanted us to have beautiful half-Chinese babies together and then ran to the bathroom and threw up? Yeah, heard that one already."

Zack dropped his cigarette to the ground and put it out with the heel of his boot. "Well, I don't want to be the one to break it to you, hun--after all, that's Val's job--but last night you didn't go home alone. I saw you staggering out of the bar with that I.T. guy you can't stand, the stuck-up one with the vintage band t-shirts and Prada eyeglasses? You were pretty trashed, and you wouldn't let me stop him. You said Mr. Snooty was going to help you find Nick, but it looked more to me like he was going to take you home and get a taste of your secret Chinese family recipe."

"Ugh, Zack, do you need to talk like that?" Jenny asked, horrified. "And I don't believe you. Why would I go anywhere with that hipster? I can't stand his guts."

He shrugged. "Like I said, you seemed to think he was going to help you find Nick. But the way he had his hand on your ass, it looked like he had other plans. I'm not the only one who saw you two leave together."

"Zaaaaack!" Jenny wailed. She searched his face for some sign that he was joking. "That's awful, and completely untrue! I don't want you repeating this story to anyone, okay? I know how much you love to gossip, but don't you dare let this get out." Forgetting all about lunch, she turned around and headed right back upstairs. Her heart was pounding as she approached her best friend's desk.

"Hey, you. Don't you ever check your phone?" Valerie asked, putting on her jacket to go out. "I was trying to text you about a spot for lunch. I'm thinking Thai ‘cause I don't really wanna walk so far in this rain." She looked up and finally noticed the expression on Jenny's face. "Hey, what's the matter? Is it something to do with Nick?"

"Val, did I go home with somebody last night? Please tell me you didn't see me leave the party with anyone."

"I'm your best friend. I would never let you go home drunk with some guy! Not even--okay, maybe Nick but only because I know you've been in love with him since the first time you saw him kiss a sea lion. But otherwise I've got your back. You know that."

"Okay, thanks," Jenny said relieved, "because Zack is trying to say that he saw me go home last night with that hipster guy I can't stand from I.T. So you saw me leave? Were you the one who called the cab?"

"Well..." Valerie hesitated. "Maybe I didn't actually see you leave the party because I may have been distracted by Joshua, that cute guy I was telling you about from legal," she ruefully admitted.

"Val!"

 "I mean, one minute you were right there with me in the bathroom while I was trying to clean off your cardigan, and the next thing I know you had walked out. I followed you but then Joshua started talking to me, and like that you were gone. I looked all over and couldn't find you, so I figured you'd gone back home."

"I thought you said you had my back," Jenny cried.

"I swear it all happened so fast! I'm sure Zack is just being delusional. I never saw you or Mr. Snooty anywhere near each other the entire night. Besides, it's not like you woke up in bed next to him or found his clothes the next morning," Valerie reasoned. Then she saw the look on Jenny's face. "Did you?"

"This morning I found a man's peacoat in my bedroom that I didn't recognize," Jenny confessed. Do hipsters wear pea coats?" she asked with a sniffle.

"Oh shit." Valerie stood up. "That's it, I'm gonna kill him! Nobody takes advantage of my besty. You stay right here. I'm going to I.T. to--wait, where are you going?"

"Home," Jenny said as she marched back to her desk for her purse. "I never should've gotten out of bed today."

...

Jenny took a half day, telling her boss that she still felt unwell, and headed home. She sat alone in the back of the bus with her aching forehead pressed against the cold, damp window and tried to forget about everything that had happened--about the party, about the gossip... About Nick. Jenny decided that the next time her boss asked her to plan a surprise party for someone, she would just turn him down because after a morning full of surprises, she didn't liked them very much anymore.

Jenny's phone vibrated in her purse for the umpteenth time, but she just ignored it, figuring it was Valerie bugging her yet again. She didn't want to talk to anyone right now. She just needed some time to herself to process what had happened.

Jenny was full of regret over the way she had handled things with Nick. Her first mistake was being so afraid of coming across as a spazz that she never did anything about her feelings until last night. Val was right: Jenny had been in love with Nick ever since the first time she saw him kiss a sea lion, and that was months and months ago. If she had only done something sooner, then maybe her feelings wouldn't have come out in such an embarrassing and public way. Her second mistake, of course, was going home with the wrong guy. Even if Jenny hadn't made a total fool of herself in front of Nick the night before, going home with a random hipster guy was sure to have extinguished any interest Nick may have had in her. And her third mistake? Jenny supposed her third mistake was getting so drunk that she could barely even recall her night with Nick. And now all she had left was a silly photo of them goofing around on her camera phone.

As the bus approached her stop, Jenny wiped the fog away from the window and saw that the rain had started to come down in fat, heavy drops and was pelting against the side of the bus. She pulled her umbrella from her bag and had it ready to go as soon as she stepped onto the street. The force of the storm caught Jenny off guard. The rain came down at an angle, plastering her slacks to her legs, and the wind blew fiercely, whipping her hair all about her face. Jenny hadn't gone more than a few steps when a huge gust of wind blasted her and turned her umbrella inside out. She heard the metal ribs of the umbrella snap, and when she tried to flip it right side out again, the fabric hung limply on its frame.

Jenny stared at her broken umbrella lamely. "Really?" she said in disbelief and then looked up at the sky, raindrops splashing against her face as she called out to no one in particular, "Really! After everything that's happened, now this?!" She chucked the useless umbrella in the nearest trashcan, stuffed her hands in her pockets, and plodded home in the pouring rain. If she got sick, at least it would be the perfect excuse to stay home for a few days. Maybe she could even convince her boss to let her telework, at least until some new drama sprang up and office gossip moved on to its next victim.

Jenny was completely drenched by the time she arrived home. She entered the garage through a side door and passed the stairway which led upstairs to where her aunt and uncle lived, instead going to a false wall where the front door to her apartment was located. It was a great relief to be home at last. Jenny tugged off her rain boots, sending water flying everywhere, and left them on the side of the welcome mat.

When she pushed through the door, the kitchen was warm and toasty from a space heater that had been turned on in anticipation of her arrival. A friendly face greeted her, holding out a dry towel. "Nick..." Jenny breathed. "You--how--huh...?" she stared at him dumbly, not even taking the towel as she dripped all over the place.

"Surprise!" He smiled, though his grin was tinged with embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be a creepy stalker waiting for you in your apartment, I swear. I was upstairs waiting in the living room like a normal person, but your grandma kept trying to force-feed me almond cookies. I think I ate about four or five of them before your Aunt let me hide down here," he explained, stepping forward to throw the towel over her shoulders as she hadn't moved an inch.

Jenny blinked at Nick a few seconds then started giggling. "I'm so sorry about that... But what are you doing here?"

"To see you, of course." He reached out and brushed a wet tendril of hair from her face in a gesture that was so familiar it made her feel warm and funny. "When I got back to the office after the photo shoot, they said you'd gone home ‘cause you weren't feeling well. And you weren't answering your phone either, so I wanted to make sure you were doing okay." He smiled at her and added, "I took my car, which I guess is why I beat you home. Muni sure must suck when it rains, huh?" At that moment the kettle on the stove began to whistle, and Nick turned his head. "Oh yeah, your aunt said you would want some tea when you got home so she set it up."

"Tea sounds fantastic," Jenny said. She peeled off her wet coat and hung it across the back of one of the dining chairs. Pouring two mugs, she handed one to Nick. He thanked her and then they stood there in the kitchenette-dining room-living room-front door space and looked at each other, clutching their tea and waiting for the other person to speak.

"I don't mean to--" Nick began.

"I should change," Jenny burst out at the exact same moment. "Oh, I'm sorry, you go ahead first."

"No, you're right. Go ahead and change. I'll be right here with my tea." Nick gave her a winsome smile and planted himself in the dining room chair not taken up by her coat.

Jenny quickly shut herself in her room and began to freak out. Nick was here! In her tiny apartment! She couldn't believe it. He didn't seem at all upset about the night before. In fact, the way he  was acting, it seemed like he was still interested in her. Did that mean, then, that he didn't know she had gone home with someone else? Puzzling over this, Jenny peeled off her wet clothing and hung it to dry and then scrambled around looking for something warm to wear. As she pulled on a pair of lounge sweats and a v-neck long sleeve, she wondered if it made her look too frumpy. It would be weird to dress up when she was just sitting at home though, and besides, she didn't want to make Nick wait much longer. She toweled off her wet hair and twisted it up into a bun on the top of her head then proceeded to straighten up her room.

The bedroom had a couch and was a little more spacious, so it made sense for them to sit there rather than in the kitchen. Jenny switched on the space heater to warm the room up a bit. She also cleared off the couch and started tossing her dirty laundry into a clothes hamper. There was a bra hanging off of her Yamaha keyboard, which she grabbed and stuffed into a drawer. When Jenny got to the pea coat she had found that morning, she held it guiltily in her hands and looked at the door beyond which Nick was waiting. If the reason he was being so nice to her was because he didn't already know that she left his birthday party with some stuck-up hipster from I.T., then she would have to tell him the truth--even if it seemed unbearable. Unfortunately, he would probably hate her.

Jenny opened the bedroom door, which made Nick look up from his tea. "I almost thought you had escaped out the window," he joked and then spotted the pea coat tucked under her arm. "Oh good, you still have my jacket."

"Y-your jacket? This is your jacket?" Jenny asked, confused.

"Yeah," Nick said, standing to take it from her. He reached into the pocket and pulled out a black iPod. "Do you know how much it sucks to go running at the gym without your iPod?"

"Wait... how did I end up with your jacket?"

Nick looked at her bemusedly. "You really don't remember, do you? I'm sorry, it's my fault. I shouldn't have made you drink so much, but then again I was pretty buzzed, too. It was all those birthday shots you guys kept throwing at me." Seeing Jenny's confusion, Nick put his hand on her shoulder. "How about we sit down and you tell me how much you can remember? Then I can fill in the details for you."

She nodded. "Okay. I've got a couch in here where we can sit." She grabbed her tea and followed him into the room. Nick was like a giant in her tiny bedroom, which made it seem even smaller than it actually was. When they sat down, he took up most of the loveseat, causing their knees to crowd against each other.

"Well..." Jenny began. "I remember you blowing out your birthday cake and coming over to thank me at the bar. And I remember dancing, sort of... Oh, and I remember you trying to stuff as many deep-fried twinkies into your mouth as humanly possible," she laughed. "But then it gets fuzzy. Val filled me in on how I embarrassed myself in front of everybody and threw up in the bathroom," she admitted with a blush. "After that, I only remember waking up this morning with the worst hangover of my life."

"How about now?" Nick asked. "You feeling okay?"

"Kinda lethargic, but otherwise okay now."

 "Good. Well let me see if I can fill in the gaps at the end. After you ran to the bathroom, I figured you would want to go home so I went outside to call a cab..."

Jenny gripped the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach as her best friend held back her hair. Val waved off the restroom attendant and gave the woman a twenty dollar tip to go away so they could have some privacy. "I can't believe I said that to him..." Jenny moaned. "Why didn't you stop me?"

"How was I supposed to know a confession that you wanna have Nick's babies was about to spill out of your mouth?" Valerie retorted. "I can't believe you said that!"

"What do you expect? I'm drunk..."

"Oh honey, don't do that. Not on your favorite cardigan. Here, take it off and let me clean it before it stains." Val took the cardigan and went over to the sink.

Jenny got up off the floor and followed her, turning on the other sink so she could splash some cool water on her face. "I feel better now," she said and popped a handful of breath mints into her mouth. "I should find Nick and explain to him that I didn't mean what I said."

"Of course you meant it," her best friend corrected. "You just shouldn't have announced it like that in front of everyone. What you need to do now is just let it blow over. Nick will laugh it off and think you were exaggerating, and you can take another shot at him later when you're sober. Right now you're just going to embarrass yourself. Believe me, you will love me in the morning for it," Val said, scrubbing at the stain on the cardigan with a moist towelette. Her advice had fallen on deaf ears, however, as Jenny was already out the door.

Jenny stepped out into the noisy bar, casting around for Nick in the crowded room. She tried to focus on the ground as she walked, taking care not to trip over anyone's feet, but her steps were unsteady and she nearly stumbled into a barstool before somebody caught her arm. "Nick?" Jenny blinked up at the person who had grabbed her.

To her great disappointment, it wasn't Nick but a guy from the I.T. department whom she severely disliked for condescending to her the last time she had gotten a computer virus at work. He looked down at Jenny through his thick-rimmed Prada glasses, a supercilious look on his face as he scrutinized her. "You look like you've had a few too many. Where you going, Chong?"

"I'm trying to find Nick. Do you know where he is?"

"Why would I--" he began but then stopped and looked her over one more time, taking in her glassy eyes and dazed appearance. His expression softened. "Actually, I do. He just left, but why don't I take you to him?"

"You would do that, Mr. Snooty?" she asked.

"The name's Milo, Chong. And sure, I'll take you to Nick. Right this way, babe." He put an arm around Jenny to steady her as she walked, his hand on her hip as he led her towards the exit.

"Why are you being nice to me all of a sudden? You don't like anyone."

"Yeah, well tonight maybe I like you," he responded, moving his hand from her hip down to her butt.

Observing this gesture, a figure stepped in front of the doorway to block their departure. "Excuse me, Mr. Snooty, where do you think you're going with Jenny?"

The I.T. guy waved him off. "Why do you all call me that? The name's Milo. Now get the hell out of my way, Gay Zack."

"Sorry, but only my friends can call me Gay Zack, and that's one of my friends you've got there." He set his hands on his hips and refused to move. "Why don't you find some hipster chick who's actually willing? I know just the place for you over on Folsom Street with girls who are more your type."

"Hey man," Milo leaned forward and muttered under his breath, "I don't try to mess with you when you're picking up dudes, so why do you have to cock-block me?"

Zack crossed his arms and said loudly, "Don't make me go get Valerie. If I sic Jenny's besty on you, you'll never hear the end of it."

At the mention of her best friend, Jenny panicked. Valerie would just try to stop her from talking to Nick, so she put her hand on Zack's arm. "It's okay. We're just going outside to look for Nick. Don't worry about me." He looked doubtful, so she added, "I'm fine, Zack. Now let me go. And don't you dare tell Valerie about this, or I'll tell everyone what you did at the Castro last weekend."

He sighed and stepped aside. "Fine. But you better not do anything you're going to regret in the morning."

Milo smirked at him as he and Jenny walked out of the bar. "Come on, let's get out of this place."

Zack's words were bothering her though, and as they stepped outside she asked, "Can we go see Nick now?" It was freezing cold, especially since her cardigan was inside with Valerie, and her breath was coming out in frosty plumes.

"Yeah, sure thing, babe." He pulled her down the street. "My car's right down this way at a meter. I'll take you to him."

Jenny dug her feet into the ground, which was no mean feat on an icy sidewalk in heels, and resisted. "Stop calling me ‘babe.' You said you knew where Nick was, but I don't think he's in your car. I'm drunk, not stupid, y'know." She tugged her hand out of his grasp and stood there in the cold.

"Hey, hey, chill out... He went back to my place, Chong. If you want to see Nick, then I'll take you to Nick," Milo told her, beginning to look annoyed.

"Someone looking for me?" a voice interrupted. Jenny turned around to find Nick standing there, his hands in the pockets of his pea coat.

"Freakin' hell..." Milo muttered then called out to Nick, "You know what, you can have her. She's not worth the trouble." He shook his head and stalked away.

"I leave you out of my sight for two seconds, and you're already getting yourself into trouble," Nick joked as he walked up to Jenny.

"I was trying to find you." She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself.

Nick removed his heavy jacket and threw it over her bare shoulders. "Sorry, I came outside to call a cab. I thought you might want to go home. Speaking of which..." That moment a yellow taxi pulled up to the sidewalk. "Do you need to go back inside and get anything?" he asked as he opened the door for her. Jenny shook her head and climbed in, followed by Nick who slid in after her.

"What address?" the driver asked from the front seat.

"Go ahead. You first, and then I'll have him drop me off after," Nick told Jenny.

"Judah and 11th Ave, please." She slumped down in the seat, holding her head as the taxi took off.

"Hey, you okay? I shouldn't have made you drink so much," Nick said apologetically.

"It's my own fault. I can't believe I puked, though. I never throw up! Then again, I usually don't drink this much. I thought I needed liquid courage, but look what good it did me."

"Why?" He was looking down at her very intently.

"Why what?" she asked, confused.

"Why did you think you needed liquid courage?" he prompted, reaching over to slide his hand over hers.

Jenny looked down and watched as Nick turned her hand over and began to run a finger across her palm in a circular motion. It was rather relaxing. "Because I'm a spazz and every time I'm near you, I get all awkward and stuff. I can't help it," she moaned.

"I don't think you have to worry about that.  And maybe I like spazzy," Nick said casually. The tone of his voice was easy-going, but when Jenny looked up into his face, his expression was anything but casual.

"Oh..." She couldn't think of anything to say in return, so they sat there a while in silence until she said, "I feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and think I imagined all of this. Or worse, I'm not going to remember any of it.

"Well, here--gimme your phone." Nick took her cell phone and started pressing his number into it. Then he held the phone above their heads to take a picture. "Okay, make a silly face... There, now you have my number. So either you can call me, or if you forget I'll call you tomorrow, ok?"

"So I made sure that you got through your front door all right; then I headed home," Nick told her, wrapping up his story of the night before.

Jenny shook her head, both disgusted and relieved. "Wow, I can't believe what a scumbag Milo is, trying to get me to go home with him... Thank you for being there. I'm still shocked that I got so drunk and made such a fool of myself, though. Believe me, I don't always act like that. I'm usually pretty sober."

"So are you saying that last night was just because you were drunk, and you don't really want to have beautiful half-Chinese babies with me?" Nick teased.

Jenny turned beet red and buried her face in her hands, mortified. "You're going to torture me about that forever, aren't you?"

"Come here, spazz..." Nick said with a laugh and pulled her the short distance across the love seat into his arms. Dropping his head, he kissed her, and Jenny thought she could feel the room spinning like it had last night. When the room righted itself again she found her hand tangled in the hair at the back of Nick's head and her other hand clutching his shirt.

"Now I'm sure we didn't do that last night because I wouldn't have forgotten about it," she said breathlessly.

"Positive?" he murmured, brushing his nose against hers. He had the most irresistible smile on his face that Jenny had ever seen.

"Hmm..." she pretended to think about it and then replied with her own smile, "how about we try that again, just to make sure?"

As Nick happily obliged, Jenny couldn't help but think that today might be the best day of her life. Even if the big one shook San Francisco and her whole house fell down, she wouldn't have noticed. She was that happy. There could be nothing better than being warm and dry and in the arms of the one she adored while the rain fell outside--well, except maybe saving the world's oceans. But she and Nick could work on that one together.

Push the door, I'm home at last and I'm soaking through and through
And then you handed me a towel, and all I see is you
And even if my house falls down now
I wouldn't have a clue because your near me

 And I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
And oh, just to be with you
Is having the best day of my life